Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Usually, Aquilai, usually.  Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
That Shrinking Feeling

Malice swooped into the open, sure that the RAFians had gone.  She prowled to a clearing, her cloak billowing around her.  She stood still for a moment, as the wind picked up, causing her cloak to blow around her dramatically.  She waited for it to die down.

Then she produced a green stone, very much identical to the other two, from her cloak.  She set it down, and it began revolving counterclockwise in a rather sedate manner.  Malice smiled grandly, as she muttered for the stone to activate.  It, like its predecessors, turned nearly-transparent as a green flash speed towards RAF.

***

Back at the forum, Cloak was still feeling aggrieved, and torn.  He knew he must search for his allies, but he also searched for more stones.  He found nothing in the ease -- of course, unbeknowst to him, that was before Malice had even showed up.  Finding nothing, Cloak had gone to search the west of RAF.  There he found nothing as well.

Then a thought occured to him.  When in the pocket universe and the fractured realm he couldn't just Realm Walk out of them.  He didn't realize how odd it was at the time, due to other, more pressing thoughts.  But now that he thought about it, there could only be one reason -- these stones must have come from the Nexus.

Duh, you idiot, Cloak berated himself, the legend was a Realm Walker legend, and, as such, they would come from the Nexus, if true.  Which it appears they are.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a green flash.  He only had time to think, oh, not again! when he felt an odd falling feeling.  Yet his feet never left the ground.  He looked around and suddenly realized that he was little more than an inch tall . . .

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter, methinks.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Bottom of the Food Chain

Cloak was soon to realize that he wasn't the only one at a miniscule scale.  Horse was bearly any larger than a flea, Dino was two or three inches tall at her maximum height, and the rest was between an inch and a half-inch in height.  And, at this height, one thing was quite clear -- the lawns needed to be mowed more often.

It took basically a two and half days to assemble all the mini-RAFians together.  They were none too happy with this situation.  Hostility was really just a stone's throw away.  All the RAFian's powers seemed deminished and began to function unreliably, although physical strength and flight were relatively boosted.  And Parker's armor retained no such limitations.  He could easily summon all the Ride Armors that Cloak had given him with no lag time or diminished power, relatively speaking.

"It's another stupid stone, isn't it?" Aquilai squeaked.  It would almost be comical if the situation was so dire.

"I would hazard a guess to say that's logical," Yarin concurred.

"Thanks, Spock." Shock sneered.

"Hostility won't help, Shock," Cloak said, reproachfully.

"How do we get to the Stone, much less destroy it, when we're less than an inch tall?" Marie queried.

"It is either to the east or west of here." Cloak commented thoughtfully.

"Which one, though?"

<The green flash came from the . . . east, I think.> Noelle put in.

"Great, we'll go there based on a hunch." Jess sniped.

"We don't have any other information," Richard pointed out, "and if we don't try this would become the norm.  And I don't like being this size anymore than any of you."

"But what about the guardian?  There's surely to be a guardian." Blaze said practically.

"We'll have to wait until we cross that bridge," Dino said.

So that was it.  They would journey east of RAF, and it would take a long time.  They had to avoid and battle normal songbirds and other predators who thought that they all looked like lovely little snacks.

[Gaz]

All caught up! Love the new parts.

[Cloak]

Thanks Gazzy -- and I bet you're wondering where you are, unless I made it a bit too obvious . . .

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
A Small Problem

The RAFians managed to maked it far enough east to find the stone -- and all it took them was a week or two.  The flying RAFians could cover far more distance, far easier.  Cloak was among those that walked, but he was used to walking such a distance -- there were no cars or other vechicles in the Nexus, Realm Walkers walked everywhere.

What Cloak wasn't used to was his new stature.  He found that he really didn't like being little more than an inch tall.  He still retained his elemental abilities, but he really didn't like their diminished strength.  Cloak postulated if he whipped his cloak off he'd nothing more than an overly bright firefly.  But he didn't care to test out this hypothesis.

Cloak noticed that Aquilai seemed preoccupied with his pockets for some reason.  Cloak's knowledge of Time Lords was limited, so he didn't know what Aquilai seemed to be worried about -- everything seemed fine, though Aquilai seemed uncertain -- except that he was barely an inch tall.

"Wait, I can't see the guardian," Phoenix said.

"Good," Goom said grudgingly bright, who was roughly the size of a flea.  "Let's destroy that thing before it shows up."

A roar sounded that buffeted the RAFians around.  Before them was a sinewy, monstrously colossal, azure dragon.  DinoNothlit, Blocky and Shock was smaller than its smallest claw, and they were the largest RAFians.

Every RAFian uttered a curse in their native tongues.  They they were forced to run for their lives.  Cloak looked over to the stone.  He had an idea, but it was pure speculation.  But he knew he wasn't strong enought to do it alone in this diminished state.

Cloak saw that Parker decided to activate the Hawk Ride Armor -- it allowed him to fly and fire homing missiles.  It was a good strategy -- had he been normal-sized.  But clearly Parker was tire of running away.

"Demos!  Aquilai!  Blaze!  With me!" Cloak roared.  Normally, when he roared at top volume like that, it could be heard for quite a distance -- something his tiger form afforded him -- but at this size it would be extremely lucky, not to mention stupidly optimistic, if he could be heard more than ten feet.

But the other three got the gist, and came to his side.  Then they charged up to the stone, and went beneath it.

"What now, Cloak?" Blaze asked.

"All of us are pyrokinetics," Cloak said, "granted that I'm a reluctant one.  So, fire upwards!!!"

They understood and focused their fire above.  Pouring all their strength into it.  Every last ounce of power they possessed.  The stone began to crack.  Slowly, more cracks began to appear.  It was so horribly slow, so horribly, horribly slow!!

[Darth Revan]

Damn straight I ain't runnin' again! In Final Fantasy VII I took down Ruby Weapon even though it cast Mini on me and each attack I made only did 1 damage. I sat there for HOURS chipping that huge monster away. I'm not runnin' from the cure to my miniaturization.

[Blazing Angel]

Did it ever occur to you that you could have started over once or twice so that you could get a few more hits in.

[Darth Revan]

Did it occur to you that with an epic level monster like Ruby Weapon, it wouldn't make a difference? I never said he made me small right off the bat.

Either way, good stuff so far Cloak. I'll have to mount my new weapon on the armor and fire everything I have.

[Blazing Angel]

Jeeze. That's beyond stretching the game.

[Cloak]

Blaze, Parker, please be civil.  And Parker, don't forget, you still have the Megatron/Galvatron fusion blasters mounted to your arm.  The Megatron one above, the Galvatron one is below.  Probably be another short chapter.

Oh, yeah, the shrinking was down to 1/67^th of your normal size.  Why that number?  I have my reasons.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Cue Super Mushroom Music

Parker had decided to jump onto its back and started using the Kangroo Ride Armor -- which was an odd name because it looked nothing like a kangaroo.  This Ride Armor had no hands but a vertical plateform with four sharp spikes on each arm.  What's more, these spike plateforms can be sent out much like grapping hooks.

But Cloak, Aquilai, Blaze, and Demos -- their focus remained on the stone.  They were still pouring everything they had into destroying the stone.  It was slow, bitter work . . . but it was working.  They were succeeding, albeit in a very slow manner.  Eventually, what seemed like a milennia, the stone shattered into nothingness.

With dizzyingly rapidity, the RAFians shot up to their full, true height.  Many RAFians fell over.  Fortunately for Parker, he was in a Ride Armor and they don't tip easily.  Cloak just fell onto his butt, exhausted, but back at eight feet tall again.

The other four were just as exhausted -- Aquilai was actually laying on his back.  Cloak supposed it was because it was quite more physical for him to use his pyrokinesis then it was for the other three.  Cloak turned his gaze away from him for two minutes, then back again.

But he was gone.

"Where'd --"

But then a scream of alarm came from the RAFian crowd.

"Great," Blaze muttered, "what now?"

The disappearances of Noelle, Blocky, Aila, Genies, Marie and, yes, Aquilai were the "what now".  They were gone.

"We must go to the west," Cloak said, "we must search for them in the west."

"Why?" Shanker asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Goom said.  "Stones were already found in the north, south and east.  The west is the only logical explanation."

And so they did.  But they found nothing.

It turns out that Malice was watching them, and Cloak was too tired to sense her malicious presence -- something ALL cats can do, sensing presences of evil.  She had a satisfied smile on her face.

"Six more for my collection," she said quietly to herself.  "More to come . . . soon.  Very soon."

[Blazing Angel]

Aw, they keep taking everyone! That ain't cool!

[Gaz]

Great update! Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Cloak]

Thanks, guys!  And Blaze, it's just gonna get worse before it gets better.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Outage

Malice was west of RAF, and she remained stationary for more than a minute savoring what she was doing to the RAFians.  But it was time for her to further plans once more. She walked into the clearing, and she pulled out a sickly yellow stone from her cloak.  She smirked in a very irritating way, as she set it down, and as all the others it hovered a few inches off the ground.  It rotated vertically, still at a slow and lava-lamp-like pace.

"They'll love this," she cackled.  Then she muttered, "Activate," to the stone.  And, as with its predecessors, it turned near-translucent as it sent out a yellow shockwave, which raced, ever forward, towards RAF.

***

Back at RAF was not the frivolity and jocularity that it normally was.  Twelve of their number were gone.  Gone to who knows where.  The RAFians didn't even know if they were alright or injured or dead.

Dameg, Esplin, Ash, Broken, Gaz, Mr. Guy, Noelle, Blocky, Aila, Aquilai, Genies, Marie . . . all vanished.  All gone.  And this wasn't an effect of the stones, because they destoryed three of them into powder.

Suddenly, the RAFians' brooding thoughts over their missing comrades was broken, when the yellow shockwave came.  It washed over all of them.

"Everyone still here?!" Blaze shouted immediately after the shockwave had passed.

"I'm here," Parker said, looking himself over, seeing just what the shockwave had done to him, "it didn't seem to affect me."

Cloak, however, felt like someone decided to try and chi-block him, as his body felt a minor numbness.  He tried but he could not manipulate the elements.  His powers had been suppressed.  He still maintained his feline form, and he still had to wear his cloak, but the elements were lost to him.

Horse was unaffected -- she had to go away briefly for some school thing, and she got back just after the shockwave had infected the others.  She seemed to grasp that another shockwave took place.*

The other RAFians seem to realize that their powers have been shorted out, even Blaze's sword was only a sword -- it couldn't change form or glow anymore.  Blaze looked deeply disappointed at this.

"Well, this will be difficult." Parker commented.

"Easy for you to say," Cloak snarled, "you have your weaponry."

Parker tossed Cloak a gun, which landed in the dirt at his feet.  Cloak curled his lip at it, and turned away.  "We need to go to the west.  The stone is certainly there.  We must destroy it, now."

----
*Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's highly convient, I know.  But she has a very special role she needs to play.

[Blazing Angel]

It's actually highly believable considering how busy Seal has been.

[Darth Revan]

Oh snap! Though this has happened so many times in Intro Randomness. Though how they'll destroy the stone is the question. Unless a plasma grenade'll do the job.

[Cloak]

Nope, Parker.  Heat isn't gonna be the answer.  Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Tiger Violence

The RAFians headed out to the west.  They could see the stone quite easily.  But they saw the Guardian as well.  Cloak's eyes narrowed.  It was a white tiger.  The tiger and Cloak glared at each other.

The white tiger growled, and Cloak looked highly offended.  Cloak could speak the tiger language, and knew exactly what this thing had said.  His bared his feline fangs slightly.

Parker moved so to be in a position to attack, only to be barred by Cloak's arm.  Cloak glanced over his shoulder and said, "No.  It's MINE.  Figure out how do destroy the stone."

Without a second thought, wasting no word, Cloak charged the beast, and the beast charged him.  Granted, Cloak wasn't as experienced with his claws and teeth as he was with the elements and this beast was slightly bigger than him, he didn't care.  Cloak slashed and slashed, not yet close enough for a bite.

Cloak was a lightning-speed beast of claws and slash, but the white tiger was no slouch in this, either.  But neither were close enough, neither's guard was down enough, to manage that finishing bite.

The beast snarled, and Cloak yelled, "Leave my mother out of this, you --" but the curse just sounded like a snarl to the other RAFians.

Back at the stones, Parker tried a plasma grenade . . . only to have it bounce back at him.  He uttered "Oh ****" as it exploded, but its damage was reduced, and it only singed his armor black.

Blaze tried to strike it with his sword, but it didn't even chip the stone.  But this didn't stop Blaze from hacking it an even forty times.

Each RAFian stepped up to individually attack the stone to the best of their ability, only to have all their projectile attacks rebound upon themselves, or have their melee attacks to fail miserably.